Wordless Wednesday 02/25/09

Painted Winter Beauty

Greenville's Zoo is Small but Mighty!

We had a warm weekend a couple of weeks ago, and headed north to Greenville to check out their zoo. It is said to be one of the country's top small zoos. Having come from a city that has a fabulous but expensive zoo, I was curious to see what this zoo might hold. After paying for a family pass and buying some crackers to feed the animals we began our trek. The Greenville Zoo is not very big but I have to say that I like that. It is very manageable for a family with young children and there are no added attractions with extra fees making it an affordable family outing.

The kids were able to get pretty close to the animals. I can't begin to tell you how excited Gavin was when he got to see this black and white colobus monkey mama and her baby.

He would have stayed there for hours just talking to them and watching them. Seeing him so touched by their bond touched our hearts too.

But we continued on and began to find opportunities to feed some of the animals. The tortoises, after a nap in the warm sun, were more than happy to oblige us. Gavin was the first to give it a try, then Patrick ventured even closer. I was happy to take the pictures and stay at a distance.

Right around the corner from the tortoises was a playground and a pergola with Adirondack chairs for the parents to kick back while the kids burn off some energy. It was a nice little respite. But we were ready to see some orangutans. We had heard that they were very entertaining. The adult orangutans, Mia and Chelsea looked worn out from their toddler, Bob.

We found him hanging upside down, swinging like, well, an orangutan. Anna and Gavin began acting like primates themselves so that was our clue to move on to lunch.

Before leaving the zoo, I snapped this picture.

Our lambs with the lion.

Just right outside of the zoo is a fabulously designed playground, the likes I have never seen before. It has two separate areas: one for toddlers and one for older kids. Both the play areas are covered by canvas like roofs to help with the heat in the summer. Everyone had a great time and we all decided we were glad we had bought the family pass. Come visit us, we'll be glad to take you to the zoo!

Guerilla Goodness Quaker Style

This week is Random Acts of Kindness week. Greenville Friends, the small Quaker meeting in Greenville, South Carolina we attend, has First Day School on the first Sunday of the month. It was my month to organize a lesson and I was very excited to have February because I had been reading about an activity a fellow mom blogger, Patience Sogaldo, does. She has her own blog, Kindness Girl, that I follow regularly. Along with her sisters, she also contributes to the blog Supersisters at PBS Parents(a great website I might add). She does a thing called "Guerrilla Goodness" which was my inspiration for First Day School. Get on over to her blog and read all about the history of Guerrilla Goodness. Maybe it'll inspire you too!

We set out to do our own little Guerrilla Goodness project in honor of Random Acts of Kindness Week. I talked a little about sneaky guerrilla warfare but that as Quakers we honor the Friends' testimony of peace. Kids love the idea of being sneaky! Hey, let's face it, who doesn't like being sneaky every now and then? So I told them we were going to practice sneaky guerrilla goodness. I caught 'em...their curiosity was peaked, along with the bribe of juice boxes and snacks later, of course. It was a joy to see the personalities of all the children, even the shy ones, emerge as they began to dive into all the crafty goodness. Seeing wonderfully loving sayings written by a child's hand makes a sneaky love note even better don't you think? I gave them some examples of sayings the kids could write but they began to come up with their own like:

• Love Your Sluf (translation: Love yourself)
• Think good thoughts
• The day is sunny, so are you!
• A three year old thinks you are cool!
  

As they were creating their notes they began to talk of who they would give them too. The list grew and grew. Some of them even decided to continue the project when they got home. We put of few of the notes on some of the cars in the parking lot and gave some to some of the adult Friends in the meeting for worship. The rest that they made they took home with them to practice their own random acts of kindness. I also made up a little "goodness bag" that had a few chocolate kisses, a heart sucker and two guerrilla goodness type cards printed from a website dedicated to anonymous kindness called Help Others. You can go there and print your own. It's lots of fun and does a body good!



So I'd love to hear what your plans are for this week of Random Acts of Kindness! Leave a comment telling me...that alone is a random act of kindness delivered to moi!

Obamicon Crazy!

Have you heard about this website, Obamicon.Me? I went a little mad one night after finding it and created a few of my own. Whether you are a supporter of Obama or not it's a lot of fun to play with! I made some pictures as a "birthday present" for my Dad and Patrick. You can also order mugs and other items to put the image on. I'd love to see what you guys come up with!